Being curious is the cure

EDITOR:

Gurmeet Singh, Berlin

I’ve recently read through Eliot Weinberger’s long serial-essay, ‘An Elemental Thing’. It’s an astonishing work – some 35 essays linked together by the barest of narrative threads, describing, among other things, the Mandaens, Ancient Chinese beliefs about seasons and winds, Muhammad, Valmiki and many, many more. If it sounds esoteric as I write it, it’s only because I’m not doing justice. Written in a remarkable, collage-based style, which pieces together verifiable statements and beliefs, the essays provide the reader with an immanent picture of the thing – not simply a description.

You may be wondering why I’m writing about this – what with the world being so full of atrocity and challenge. Well, two things. Firstly, it’s precisely because the world is full of atrocity and challenge, that I think it’s important to remind oneself of just how great and privileged a thing it is to be able to read. Secondly, the Weinberger’s book is revitalising – in the best sense. It’s so curious about all of its subjects, the reader can’t help but feel the same. In reading it, I realised just how deep I’d sunk into a well of cynicism – world politics being such a goddamn mess, after all. But then, being reminded that the world is a strange and interesting place, filled with remarkable beliefs and utterly different people can only serve as a cure to entrenched cynicism.

Kafka once said that books should be able to break the frozen sea of beliefs within us. It might sound portentous, but it’s certainly true that being cynical and knowing about how the world works is very easy these days. Releasing that wave of curiosity may be difficult but entirely worthwhile. Otherwise what do we have? Yet another Donald Trump tweetstorm, yet another satire about that tweetstorm? How dull. The world is big and weird place. Enjoy it.